The Power Of Radiation - Chapter 30 A Warm Reception

Todd’s expression seemed to deflate, and he suddenly seemed to become very submissive in front of this noble receptionist, very much unlike his confidence and presence while healing people at the Church of Time and Healing. Mark, on the other hand, seemed oddly at ease in front of the seemingly noble receptionist as Mark had grown up being surrounded by people well above his social standing and pay grade whether that was in college, at many of his jobs or even just on the street as anyone with a B rank could make someone of his status disappear no questions asked. This experience compounded with the familiarity the Healer’s Guild layout made Mark compare Bertha to this young receptionist and shake his head in disdain.

The noble receptionist, whose named seemed to be “Clark” according to his nameplate, became more and more irritated and angry at these two people who ignored his question in its entirety while being dressed like two of many of the poor vagabonds that beg outside the Guild. The shake of his head by Mark seemed to send the man over the edge however, as he perceived it as someone who did not respect his betters and looked down on Clark. A slimy smile with angry undertones crossed Clark’s face as he explained

“The Healer’s Guild is quite expensive unless you have the means and all visits are on an appointment basis only.”

Todd and Mark both seemed surprised at this, which came from Percy saying how the Healer’s Guild accepted walk ins. What Percy did not explain and seemed to slip his mind was that all of these “walk ins” were nobles themselves and afford the upmost courtesy and respect by the many member of the Healer’s Guild save the Head and Vice Head of the Guild.

No noble of any prominent standing would be caught dead walking on the street to get to the Healer’s Guild unless they were planning on giving out alms to the poor. With such a mindset ingrained in noble society, carriage after carriage with noble crests would arrive out front of the Healer’s Guild and be welcomed graciously by liaisons and even Clark himself.

The only other people to visit the Healer’s Guild were wealthy merchants and the doctors themselves. Neither Todd nor Mark had the trademark red robes or even seemed to posses the slightest wealth. Clark’s twisted mindset automatically set them as people below him and thus could be treated like the family dog.

Even after Todd explained their purpose to get a certification as a doctor and an occupation change for Mark, Clark continued to only sneer at them from behind the hardwood desk. This continued for a whole hour before the conflict finally came to a head.

A noble carriage seemed to glide across the cobblestones as it arrived smoothly in front of the Healer’s Guild with a familiar face exiting it and a gold shiny crest adorning the front of his robes.

Derek had arrived, son of the Duke of Stone City.

Both Derek and Mark seemed to recognize the other at a glance and smiled warmly to each other. Derek because of how Mark seemed to have a certain exoticism and appeal as compared to his other noble friends and Mark because Derek had helped save him by getting Percy’s help to heal his head wound and introducing him to the Church of Time and Healing. As Derek strode forward into the Healer’s Guild, Clark’s eyes seemed to light up with pro activeness and his demeanor seemed to become much like his hair as his smile was plastered across his face when he looked toward the now approaching Derek.

“Ah the young master of Stone City!” Clark said, “What can the Healer’s Guild do for such a fine member of the peerage such as yourself today?”

Derek’s eyes narrowed as he took in Mark and Todd just standing there waiting to be served.

Derek face took on an unreadable expression as he asked Clark, “And what about these two gentlemen?”

Clark who clearly had much disdain for Mark and Todd, gritted his teeth as his fake smile became wider as he said “They will just be a moment and then the Healer’s Guild can focus its full attention on you, young master!”

Clark then whispered to the side at Mark and Todd that they should take the smaller door to the side of the receptionist desk as Clark began to lead Derek to the larger and much grander door to the other side that Mark could assume was for the higher level nobles of the city. Todd then dragged Mark forward and through the smaller door as Mark was still thinking about what he planned to do to Clark for the hour long wait he had to endure and the imagined fate of any normal person who tried to get help at the Healer’s Guild.

Heck, as they both entered the smaller door into a simply furnished waiting room, Mark could even see a poorer and less well-connected person bleeding out in that lobby as Clark coldly watched. Mark shivered involuntarily at the savageness of the daydream and then thought that the Guild would not allow that kind of thing to happen, mostly because of all the mess it would leave, and the cleaning involved with such a fancy lobby.

As the two entered the waiting area, a no-nonsense nurse seemed to magically appear out of thin air as Todd explained both of their predicaments. The nurse then without a even slight change of expression sent Todd to the first door on the left for his own purpose, which was apparently to sign up for the Master’s rank test which he had yet to pass. Mark had his own thoughts about this test and thought he should grill Todd on this “test” and what it entails for later.

The nurse then pointed Mark to the last door on the right, which held the magical device that let one change their occupation or doctor rank. Once at the door, Mark was astounded at the security measures of the Healer’s Guild as the door as gaudy as it was, was covered in strange blue runes that seemed to pulse with power, there also seemed to be a type of force field around the door with a narrow slit made for a single guard to stand behind the door and see past the defenses.

The hard-brown eyes from behind the slit seemed to pierce Mark’s soul as a burly man who must have been at least seven feet tall opened the door and beckoned Mark inside after disabling the security measures. The man pointed toward what looked to be a lone computer terminal inside a empty room and did not take his eyes off Mark for even a second, clearly well practiced at intimidation. Mark eventually got past the staring guard and took a seat in front of the terminal which showed a prompt that was eerily similar to his status card in real life. It said,

Marcus Alexander Hamilton

Status: Commoner

Occupation: N/A

Master: N/A

Affiliations: Church of Time and Healing, Stone City, Brambleton, [?????????]

Mark quickly scanned the small status information shown by the device, It was mostly blank with his status showing him as a commoner and his affiliations which seemed to be the Church of Time and Healing on account of all of his work and time spent there along with the two places he had visited in this world so far, namely Brambleton and Stone City.

The only confusing part of the information shown was the string of question marks that was apparently another faction that Mark had unknowingly joined. On clicking this series of question marks, the device just gave the prompt of [ERROR] and nothing else.

Mark then proceeded to change his current occupation to “Apprentice Doctor” and his current master to “Percy”. The device then printed him a paper status card with the new information and a prompt explaining that the status change will be pending for a period of 48 hours while the information is verified.

Mark then exited the room under the careful watch of the brute guard who Mark could swear had not blinked yet and met up with Todd on his way out of his own room. The two doctor exchanged glances in greeting as they quietly exited the waiting room and entered the lobby as a heated argument broke out between Clark and what seemed to be an older gentleman.
for visiting.